I primarily bass fish these days but as the kids are getting more interested and my dad is now retired, I am looking to gear up for getting back into catfishing. I have a couple of old school 6500c reels that I have upgraded bearings and drag washers on. I need some rod advice though. I've been looking at whisker seeker, mad katz, big cat fever, rippin lips, etc. Most of the fishing I do will be targeting channels in lakes with slip bobbers, I figure bass gear will work fine for that. I'd like to set up a couple of rods for night fishing or drifting bigger baits on flats, etc. Any advice for action, brand, etc for those reels would be appreciated.

Mad Katz all day. I’ve owned all the rods you mentioned and my favorite are Mad Katz by a mile. Best rods on tve planet. For channels go with Medium Light and they can also handle any size fish in the lake. I absolutely love my Mad Katz. Come join the Mad Katz family see why Mad Katz took over the game and became the #1 selling catfish rod in America in only 2 yrs.

I think any of those rod you mention would do fine. I've used Warrior Cat, Hellcat, BCF, Shakespeare Wildcat and some others. I own 14 Mad Katz rods. I settled on them because they are a great product but more importantly they are supported by a great group of people. You can call them, talk to a human being and get a question answered or a problem solved. I can message them (and I have) at 4:30 in the morning and gotten a response by 5:30! The customer service is off the chart. Now, Nothing against Kaleb Page and the guys at BCF. He is a stand up guy and he offers a great product too.

I am a bit of a gear queer at this point in my life, because I can afford to be. I really like the variety of colors they offer and the State Record program they have is so unique and so cool for the anglers that set records. Great Company, Great Product, Great People. You can't ask for more than that...

All the the new rods are great, and much of it is personal preference.

I use Whisker Seeker rods which I love as I prefer the cork handles, they just feel better in my hands (but I'm old school). Also don't discard the Shakespeare Ugly Sticks either, great rods and cheap as chips!

Also based on the fishing you will be doing a medium light or medium action should so the trick A heavy action rod will be too stiff for that application.

All the ones you mentioned will work for you. I run Hellcats now, but have caught plenty trophy fish on the yellow rods from Academy. I will throw a name out there to consider, and it is serviced locally. That is Pro Angler. They have really great rods, great service, and been around here in North Texas for years.

I really like the 7.5’ medium and MH from Pro Angler Tackle.

7' MH Ugly Stik Catfish Rod the white ones, Will catch any catfish you hook into. can get 2 or 3 for the price of one of the others.

They all work fine. I prefer a graphite style rod for any cork fishing or lighter weight presentation. Live/cut with heavy rigs, any of the mentioned ones are fine. I still have a bunch of the Proangler medium actions. Still regularly catch Flatheads in the Brazos, and have pulled 60's out of the trees at Twok with 'em.. There are certainly nicer rods, like what's been mentioned. But when you buy 10-12 at a time, that bill gets hefty if you do other things besides fish for catfish. But I have zero complaints out of the PA's.

have 4 of these

Many of these rods mentioned will be way too heavy for what you want to use them for.

For the channel cats, I agree Chad but for the two "other rods" Bell mentions for drifting bigger baits, I think all of these recommendations seem pretty appropriate IMO...

I agree with Tim. When I’m dragging bigger baits like bell mentioned, I’m targeting the biggest fish in the lake but I also want a fun fight for eaters. My rod of choice is a Mad Katz medium. Perfect balance of power and action for my style of dragging planer boards. Light enough action to swim your baits in a natural presentation while taking out a lot of the jerk from waves hitting planner boards. Stiff enough to control any fish in the lake you might hook into and bring it through your planer board spread so as not to get tangled. Fun rod for both eaters and the 70 and 80 lbrs we catch. Bell also mentioned fishing at night and Mad Katz light up like a light saber when night fishing. That is one of the main reasons I switched to all fluorescent rods rather than the ones that only have florescent wraps or black sections in the rod. . If you’re going to be night fishing it is a huge advantage to have a bright rod all the way to the tip. I’ve owned lots of rods and some were better for night fishing than others but most are not good, none came close to the brightness of Mad Katz and it makes an absolute huge difference.